Good News Can Come in Small Packages

We Admit It! Every day we read some phenomenal applications. And it’s hard to keep our excitement to ourselves. Sure, we share our great finds with each other, but why should we keep such excitement to ourselves? Why not share it with you also?

Front of postcard

That’s why we have postcards. In the weeks to come (late January through late February), we will send a small cohort of our Regular Decision applicants these happy greetings from W&M. It’s a small, but we hope welcomed way to share our excitement about your application with you. The postcard’s message hints at more good news to come when we release decisions in April. These postcards are not official admission decisions, but are our version of what’s referred to as a “likely letter” (a precursor to an official offer of admission sent to applicants who we intend on admitting).

Because reading is a slow and steady process, we are not able to send a postcard to every student who will be admitted. In fact, we will likely send postcards to only about 1/3 of the students we will admit. If you do not receive a postcard, do not panic. Not receiving a postcard means nothing about your eventual decision. Remember, there are thousands of applications that we have yet to complete (so they cannot get a postcard at this time because they haven’t been reviewed). Additionally, because we can only read so many files in a given day, and because every application has to go through two complete reads (and oftentimes three) before a postcard can be sent, there are completed applications that may not move through our review process in time to receive a postcard. That’s just luck of the draw (as we explained in our previous blog, there’s no set order to the way we read applications once they are completed).

For those of you who do find our greeting in the mailbox in the days and weeks to come, enjoy it! And way to go! Your accomplishments impressed us greatly. Thanks for making our application review so enjoyable. To all of our applicants, we’ll head back to that huge stack of files on each of our desks and continue to read, read, read. All of your stories are why we do what we do, and we appreciate you taking the time to share them, whatever the eventual admission outcome may be.

Interesting approach. I will continue to breathe, breathe, breathe. I am still breathing.

Admit It!January 27, 2014

@Kristen and @Corinne, good luck to you both. But breathing is good! We’re so glad to be able to send postcards to those we do but also know there are great applicants who due to nothing more than random timing, won’t get one so not getting one is not a bad sign.

DanielJanuary 27, 2014

Does this only apply to regular decision freshmen, or are postcards sent to transfer applicants as well?

Admit It!January 27, 2014

@Daniel, good question. This is for freshmen applicants only. The transfer review process hasn’t yet begun and takes place over a much shorter timeline which isn’t as conducive to sending postcards.

Corinne K.January 27, 2014

Still breathing…. And smiling. 🙂

MeaghanJanuary 27, 2014

So hoping to find a postcard in the mail soon 🙂

Yunzheng ChenJanuary 27, 2014

I submitted the Common Application on Jan.1 but still haven’t received any email from WM… I guess that means my application is not yet in the WM system. Have you finished downloading all the applications? Thanks!

Admit It!January 28, 2014

@Yunzheng, we still have about 200 applications to download and those students would have ye to hear from us. You could be one of those 200. Just check your spam/junk email to make sure there’s no email from us. You can also follow up by phone or email as a double check.

TylerJanuary 28, 2014

Good to know! I applied “Early Decision” and received an email indicating that my application was deferred and would automatically be reconsidered and evaluated in the context of the entire applicant pool. Does the timing of one’s application have any bearing on receiving a postcard from Admissions? Thank you!

Admit It!January 28, 2014

@Tyler, as we explain in the blog the timing of receiving, completing, and reviewing an application plays into whether or not we can send a postcard. We review those deferred ED towards the end of our regular decision review to give those students time to send in any updates and so we can have the best sense of the entire applicant pool so we are generally done with the postcard process before that time.

CarrieJanuary 29, 2014

If a student receives a postcard, is there a possibility that he or she will still not be admitted?
Thank you and good luck to everyone!

Admit It!January 29, 2014

@Carrie, we only send postcards to those we anticipate admitting. To send one to students not likely to be admitted would be just cruel right? That’s not us. However, a student’s application can change. Say we learn of a suspension or awful first-semester grades after sending the postcard — we could decide not to admit that student but that almost never happens. Every postcard we send we send with the intention of sending a “Good Things” email in April.

Shrivats ModiJanuary 30, 2014

Will it be appropriate if I ask whether the applications will be reviewed alphabetically? (according to the applicant’s last name) I’m sorry but I’m extremely excited and curious! 😀

Good Morning. Should I assume that if I only received the first email regarding submission and not the second email regarding application review completion that I should not be looking for a postcard at this time? Or not necessarily? Thank you.

Admit It!January 31, 2014

@Corinne K, if you haven’t been notified that your application is complete that means it hasn’t been reviewed so we couldn’t send you a postcard. We can only send postcards once we review completed applications. As we said, there’s a lot of randomness to who is eligible to get a postcard and that’s why we only send them to a small cohort of admitted students.

KateJanuary 31, 2014

Wow, this is such a cool idea! I do have a question though. You say that you only send the postcards to about 1/3 of the people who will be accepted; does this mean you send them to all applicants whose applications have already been reviewed and accepted?Or are there some students whose applications you’ve already reviewed and accepted who still don’t get postcards? I can’t wait to hear back myself!

Admit It!January 31, 2014

@Kate, we send postcards out on an ongoing basis as we review new applications every day. And no one has officially been accepted yet but we send these to students whose applications are suburb and who we anticipate admitting. As we’ve mentioned, there will be many admitted students who don’t get a postcard due to when they completed the review process but we try to catch as many as we can early on.

MarieJanuary 31, 2014

Does this mean that some postcards have already been sent out?
My fingers are crossed!

Admit It!January 31, 2014

@Marie, the first batch was mailed this week.

Zhang QFebruary 3, 2014

Hi I’m an international applicant from China
Will you send postcards to international applicants?
Really hoping I can get one too!!!

Admit It!February 3, 2014

@Zhang Q, we will send them to students overseas who have an address that gets mail quickly (like APO military addresses). Unfortunately, for those who live overseas where mail delivery is slow, we don’t send postcards simply because they wouldn’t arrive until after we release final decisions.

StephanieFebruary 3, 2014

My postcard came in the mail today! I was so excited that I choked on the popcorn I was snacking on.

Admit It!February 3, 2014

@Stephanie, way to go!

MaryFebruary 4, 2014

If I have not received the application complete email, could it be because my school is only sending out first semester grades this week, or should I be concerned? Thanks.

DianneFebruary 4, 2014

It was so exciting to receive the postcard yesterday! Our daughter got some much needed sleep last night! Thank you W&M admissions team!

Admit It!February 4, 2014

@Mary, first semester grades aren’t required to complete an application. Just a transcript for grades 9-11. We’re still processing over 3,000 incomplete applications so no need to worry. It just takes us time to match all components for each and every single student.

Hi! I submitted my application in early November and received the first confirmation email November 8th. I haven’t heard anything regarding the completeness of my application since then. Is there any way to know which part, if any, of my application is missing? Thanks!

Corinne K.February 5, 2014

I also only received the first email on December 18th. I got a confirmation from Comm App that items were received but I was also wondering if W & M got everything I submitted (supplemental arts items and essays) because I never got the 2nd email Congratulations to all who got the postcards! I am trying to be optimistic here in NJ. 🙂

Admit It!February 5, 2014

@Ann Marie, you can certainly call us to inquire about what’s outstanding. Remember though, we may have it and just haven’t yet matched it to your other materials.

@Corinne K, then we’re still working on processing/completing your application. We will email you when we do. When we complete an application that means we have all required materials. We do not track submission of optional materials like fine arts supplements.

Corinne K.February 5, 2014

Ok, thank you.

MMFebruary 11, 2014

How cool! I have a question that isn’t exactly about the postcards but is related. How does W&M decide who to give the merit scholarships to? Are they usually people who received postcards or no? Are they notified before the official notification date?

Admit It!February 12, 2014

@MM, we review every applicant automatically for our 3 merit awards. If we deem a student one we want to admit we then decide if they fit the criteria for any of our merit scholarships. Certainly some of the people who receive postcards will receive a merit award but others will simply be admitted (we have a very limited number of scholarships). Most of our merit award winners are notified of their admission and award slightly ahead of our general notification date.

Corinne K.February 12, 2014

Are postcards still going out for the month of February? I just got the second email today saying my application was complete and ready for review. So I am wondering if I can remain optimistic about a potential postcard coming or if that phase is done and I should stop checking the mailbox! Thanks!

Admit It!February 12, 2014

@Corinne K, we’ll likely send the last batch this week or very early next week. If your application was just completed it’s unlikely it would make it all the way through the many reads our applications go through prior to early next week. Again, that doesn’t mean you won’t get good news in April. It just means your application will complete its review after we complete our postcard phase.

Corinne K.February 12, 2014

Ok. Thank you.

KatieFebruary 13, 2014

What if I haven’t got the “application complete” email yet? Does it mean I won’t have the chance to get the postcard?

Admit It!February 13, 2014

@Katie that’s correct. If your application isn’t yet complete then we can’t review it and as we explained to Corinne in our previous comment our postcard stage is coming to a close and once your application is complete it will take a bit of time to make its way through the review process. That’s no slight on you, nor are you at a disadvantage. It’s just part of the process that different apps complete at different times.

E MackFebruary 18, 2014

‘Just one sentiment — THANK YOU!!!

Ashley WoodsFebruary 18, 2014

The postcards look so classy! I hope to be getting one in the near future, but am excited for those who have already received some!

Admit It!February 18, 2014

@Ashley Woods, thank you for your comments on both blogs. The postcards will likely come to a close after this week as our Committee deliberations begin. If you don’t get one, there’s still a lot of our process left to play out and our blog will keep you posted!

Corinne K.February 18, 2014

Should I double check to see if my supplemental elements were received even though my application is considered complete? Everything was submitted through the common app. Thanks!

ElliFebruary 18, 2014

I received a postcard (YAY! Thank you!), but my dad convinced me that since it’s a likely letter, there’s a chance W&M will not admit me since it’s unofficial. Is that true?

Admit It!February 18, 2014

@Elli, see our comment from Jan. 29 on this subject. While a postcard is not an official offer of admission, you’d have to do something quite drastic to change the status of your application and have us make a decision other than admit.

MariaFebruary 18, 2014

My daughter got her postcard today. She is very excited!

Admit It!February 18, 2014

@Maria, congrats to your daughter! We look forward to sending her more good news soon!

Comments are closed on posts older than one year, but we still want to hear from you. If you have a comment or question for us, please email admission@wm.edu.